Electrical connectors are used in a wide variety of applications ranging from simple connecting interfaces between hard conductor wiring to more sophisticated applications involving such components as printed circuit boards, flat flexible cables and optical fibers. Basically, electrical connectors include some form of contacts, terminals or other conductors which interconnect one electrical device to another electrical device. The electrical connectors may involve systems whereby the connectors provide receiver-transmitter functions which, in addition, can convert high speed signals from solid (copper) cables or fiber optic cables to high speed signals on a system printed circuit board.
For instance, in the telecommunications industry, switching systems or circuitry may be provided on a rather sizable mother board at a particular location. A plurality of high speed electrical converter modules are mounted by appropriate frame structures on the mother board. Mating "plug-in" connector modules are plugged into the converter modules from outside the switching system. The incoming signals from the cables attached to the plug-in modules are at high speed, such as in the gigabit range, and the converter modules transfer and maintain the signals at high speed and transmit them to the circuitry on the mother board. Continuing problems have been encountered in the design and manufacturability of such systems.
In particular, there are applications in which it is desirable or necessary to mount a plurality of electrical connectors on a printed circuit board in a "stacked" array. In other words, one connector is mounted above another connector. With such connector assemblies, some form of frame structure must be provided to support the top or upper connector or connectors above the lower connector or connectors. Leads are provided from the upper connectors to the lower connectors or to the mother board, and the leads often are provided by flat flexible circuits which are relatively expensive. Still further, grounding systems or electrostatic discharge (ESD) systems must be incorporated in such assemblies. These requirements cause design problems because of the multiplicity of components required to provide all of the necessary functions, as described above. The present invention is directed to solving these problems by providing a simple system which is cost effective to manufacture, assemble and use, and a system which includes certain components performing multiple functions to eliminate some of the components of the prior art.